Zachos through Zuni, Virginia

ZACHOS, John Celivergos (zak'-os), educator, born in Constantinople, Turkey, 20 December 1820. He is of Greek parentage, and came to this country when he was ten years old with Dr. Samuel G. Howe. He was graduated at Kenyon College, Ohio, in 1840, and in 1842-'5 studied at the medical school of Miami University, but did not take his degree. He was associate principal in Cooper Female Seminary, Dayton. Ohio, in 1851-"4, and principal of the grammar-school of Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio, in 1855-'7. During the Civil War he served in the army as an assistant surgeon, and in 1865, having studied theology privately, he was ordained pastor of the Unitarian church in West Newton, Massachusetts In 1866-"7 he was pastor al Meadville. Pennsylvania, and professor of rhetoric in the theological school in that place. Since 1871 he has been curator of the Cooper Union, New York City. Dr. Zachos invented and patented in 1876 the stenotype, for printing a legible text from the English alphabet at a reporting speed. In this machine the types are fixed on eighteen shuttle-bars, two or more of which may be simultaneously placed in position, and the impression is given by a plunger common to all the bars. Improvements were patented in 1883 and 1886. He edited the "Ohio Journal of Education" in 1852, and is the author of "New American Speaker " (New York, 1852); "Analytical Elocution" (1861); "New System of Phonic Reading without changing the Orthography." a pamphlet (Boston, 1863): and a ''Phonic Primer and Reader" (1864). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. VI, p. 653.


ZAKRZEWSKA, Marie Elizabeth, 1829-1902, physician, radical abolitionist.  Associated with Wendell Phillips and William Lloyd Garrison.  (Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 10, Pt. 2, p. 642)


ZALINSKI, Edmund Louis Gray, soldier, born in Kurnick, Prussian Poland, 13 December, 1849. He came to the United States in 1853, attended school at Seneca Falls, New York, until 1861, and subsequently was at the high-school in Syracuse, New York, until 1863. At the age of fifteen he entered the army, serving at first as volunteer aide-de-camp on the staff of General Nelson A. Miles from October, 1864, till February, 1865. He was commissioned 2d lieutenant in the 2d New York Heavy Artillery in February, 1865, having been recommended for the appointment by his superior officers for gallant and meritorious conduct at the battle of Hatcher's Run, Virginia. After being commissioned he continued on General Miles's staff until after the surrender of General Robert E. Lee, participating in all of the engagements up to that date. He was mustered out of the volunteer service in September, 1865, and recommended for an appointment in the regular army, where he was commissioned a 2d lieutenant in the 5th U. S. Artillery, 23 February, 1866, and by regular promotion became 1st lieutenant in January, 1867, and captain, 9 December, 1887. From 1872 till 1876 he was on duty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as professor of military science. He was graduated at the Artillery School, Fort Monroe. Virginia, 1 May, 1880, and at the school of submarine mining, Willet's point, N. Y., in July of the same year. Captain Zalinski's name is widely known in connection with the development of the pneumatic dynamite torpedo-gun. (See vignette.) He has invented the electrical fuse and other devices for the practical application of the weapon, and has also devised a method for the exact sight-allowance to be made for deviation due to wind in the use of rifled artillery and small-arms. His other inventions include an entrenching-tool, a ramrod-bayonet, and a telescopic sight for artillery. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. VI, pp. 653-654.


ZANE, William, abolitionist leader, Acting Committee, the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 1787 (Basker, 2005, p. 92)


ZEILIN, Jacob, officer of marines, born in Philadelphia. Pennsylvania, 16 July, 1806; died in Washington, D. C, 18 November, 1880. He entered the Marine Corps and was commissioned a 2d lieutenant, 1 October, 1831, promoted to 1st lieutenant, 12 September, 1836, and cruised in the "Columbus" and "Congress" in 1845-'8 during the Mexican War. He participated in the operations on the Pacific Coast and in defence of Monterey, 15 July, 1846, was transferred to command the marines in the frigate " Congress," and took part with Commodore Robert F. Stockton in the conquest of California. He was brevetted major for gallantry in the action at crossing San Gabriel River, 9 January, 1847, and took part in the capture of Los Angeles and in the battle of La Mesa. He was military commandant at San Diego in 1847, and participated in the capture of Guaymas in September, 1847, and in the action at San Jose, 30 September, 1847. During October, 1847, and till the end of the war, he was at Mazatlan, where he took part in frequent skirmishes with the Mexicans, who had been obliged to evacuate the city. He was commissioned captain, 14 September, 1847, and served at New York in 1849, and in Norfolk, Virginia in 1849-'52. He was fleet marine-officer in the flag-ship "Mississippi," in Commodore Matthew C. Perry's Expedition to Japan in 1852-'4, and commanded the battalion of marines at the landing on 14 July, 1853. He was stationed at Norfolk in 1854-'7. and at Washington in 1857, and there commanded the first company of marines which quelled the riot of Baltimore roughs, 1 June, 1857. When the Civil War began he took command of the right company in the marine battalion in co-operation with the army in 1861, participated in the battle of Bull Run on 21 July, and was slightly wounded. He was commissioned major in the Marine Corps, 20 July, 1861. Zeilin was commandant at New York Barracks in 1862-'3, and in August, 1866, had command of the marine battalion that sailed from New York and landed on Morris Island, Charleston Harbor, to participate in the operations of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron under Admiral Dahlgren. In March, 1864, he returned to the north and took command of the Marine Barracks at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He was appointed colonel commandant of the Marine Corps, 10 June, 1864, and assumed control at headquarters at Washington, D. C. He was commissioned brigadier-general commandant, 2 March, 1867. General Zeilin was retired on account of age and long and faithful service, 1 November, 1870. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. VI, pp. 657-658.


ZIGZAG OR BOYAUS are defiladed trenches, run out from the parallels of attack, so as to form a covered road, by which the assailants can approach the fortress. (See SIEGE.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 674).


ZOGBAUM, Rufus Fairchild, artist, born in Charleston, South Carolina, 28 August, 1849. He received his art education at the Art students' league, New York, in 1878-9, and during 1880-'2 under Leon J. F. Bonnat in Paris. He has studied many of the great armies of Europe in field and garrison, and is known as a delineator of military subjects. He is a member of the American Water-Color Society. In 1884 there appeared in "Harper's Monthly " the first of a series of military articles written and illustrated by himself, and he has since published "Horse, Foot, and Dragoons " (New York, 1887). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. VI, p. 662.


ZOLLICOFFER, Felix Kirk, soldier, born in Maury County, Tennessee, 19 May, 1812; died near Mill Springs, Kentucky, 19 January, 1862. George, his grandfather, was a captain in the Revolutionary Army. The family came to this country from Switzerland, and is of ancestry that was ennobled by Rodolphus II, in 1528. Felix K. received a common-school education, learned the printer's trade, and for about a year published a weekly newspaper at Paris, Tennessee. He subsequently worked as a printer in Knoxville, Tennessee. and Huntsville. Alabama He began at this time to write for public journals, and one of his prose fancies may be found in Field's " Scrap-Book." From Huntsville he moved to Columbia, Tennessee, and took editorial charge of the "Observer." He served as a soldier, and afterward as a commissioned officer, in the Seminole War, and, returning in 1837, resumed the "Observer " and edited it in the canvass of 1840 in the interest of the Whig candidate. He published and edited also a weekly agricultural paper. In 1841 he became associate editor of the Nashville " Banner," the organ of the Whig Party in Tennessee. He was elected comptroller of the state in 1844, and resigned in 1849. In August of the latter year he was elected a state senator. He was chosen to Congress in April, 1853, and served continuously for three terms, attaining reputation as an able debater. He retired from public life in 1859, but was chosen as a delegate to the Peace Conference of 1861. At the beginning of the Civil War he entered the Confederate service with the rank of brigadier-general, 9 July, 1861. When the National Army was about to enter east Tennessee by way of Cumberland Gap, General Zollicoffer, with 2.000 men, went by way of Knoxville to the point of threatened attack. Soon after he had established his camp near Mill Springs, on Cumberland River. General George B. Crittenden arrived and assumed command. In the battle that ensued (see Thomas, George H.), General Zollicoffer, having ordered an advance, rode forward with several of his staff officers to inspect the enemy's position, and passed by mistake beyond their lines. He endeavored to retrace his route, and was soon in front of the 4th Kentucky Regiment, commanded by Colonel Speed S. Fry, with whom he exchanged salutes, and rode off undetected (as he wore an oil-cloth overcoat). But one of his staff fired a pistol toward the National line, which was at once answered by a volley that killed General Zollicoffer and two other officers. Another account represents that General Zollicoffer was shot by Colonel Speed S. Fry. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. VI, p. 662.


ZOLLICOFFER, TENNESSEE, September 20, 1863. Detachment of 23d Army Corps. The itinerary of the corps for the East Tennessee campaign states that for 3 hours the Confederates engaged the advance two and a half miles from Zollicoffer. The Federals were finally compelled to withdraw to Blountsville. No casualties reported. (Skirmishes are also mentioned at Zollicoffer on September 24 and October 19, 1863.)


ZOOK, Samuel Kosciuzko, soldier, born in Pennsylvania about 1823; died in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. 2 July, 1863. He learned the telegraph business early in life, and made several discoveries in electric science that gave him reputation. He settled in New York about 1848, became connected with several military organizations, and in 1857 lieutenant-colonel of the 6th New York Militia. His health had failed, but at the beginning of the Civil War he accompanied his regiment to the seat of hostilities, and was appointed military governor of Annapolis, Maryland. After his return he recruited the 57th Regiment of New York Volunteers, was commissioned colonel, and led it to the Virginia Peninsula. During that campaign he generally commanded a brigade, and on 29 November, 1862, he became brigadier-general of volunteers. He led the 57th New York Regiment at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, and was killed in the latter battle. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. VI, p. 662.


ZUNI, VIRGINIA, October 4, 1862. 1st New York Mounted Rifles. Major-General John J. Peck, commanding at Suffolk, reported as follows on the 9th: "On the 3d inst. several hundred of the enemy crossed the river in the vicinity of Zuni and occupied Windsor, having among other designs that of tearing up the Petersburg railroad. At dawn of the 4th Colonel Dodge was advanced with a portion of the New York 1st mounted rifles, who occupied the place and during the day forced the enemy across the Blackwater."

ZUNI, VIRGINIA, October 26, 1862. (See Blackwater, same date.) Zuni, Virginia, November 14, 1862. (See Blackwater Bridge.) Zuni, Virginia, December 12, 1862. Terry's Brigade. A despatch from Major-General John J. Peck, commanding at Suffolk, dated 11 a. m., says: "Firing is heard from the vicinity of Zuni, where the Petersburg railroad crosses the Blackwater." Confederate accounts state the Union loss in this action as "about too killed and wounded." Their own loss was given as 1 killed, 1 wounded and 11 missing.